(9 March 2015)—BP Egypt announced another important gas discovery in the North Damietta Offshore Concession in the East Nile Delta. The Atoll-1 deepwater exploration well, currently being drilled using the sixth-generation semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer, has reached 6,400 meters depth and penetrated approximately 50 meters of gas pay in high quality Oligocene sandstones.
Expected to be the deepest well drilled in Egypt, the Atoll well still has another 1 kilometer to drill to test the same reservoir section found to be gas bearing in BP’s significant 2013 Salamat discovery, 15 kilometers to the south.
Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, commented: “Success in Atoll further increases our confidence in the quality of the Nile Delta as a world class gas basin. This is the second significant discovery in the licence after Salamat. The estimated potential in the concession exceeds 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and we now have a positive starting point for the next possible major project in Egypt after BP’s West Nile Delta project.”
Commenting on the discovery, Hesham Mekawi, BP North Africa Regional President, said: “The Atoll discovery is a great outcome for our second well in this core exploration program in the East Nile Delta. It demonstrates BP’s continuous efforts to help in meeting Egypt’s energy demands by exploring the potential in the offshore Nile Delta. We are proud of our commitment to unlock Egypt’s exploration potential that requires large investments to utilize using the latest drilling and seismic technologies.”
Atoll-1 was drilled in 923 m water depth around 80 km north of Damietta city, 15 km north of Salamat and only 45 km to the northwest of Temsah offshore facilities. BP has 100 percent equity in the discovery.